Tennis Update: January 3rd, 2013

Sorry for the delay. I was on vacation and didn't think about blogging too much. And Happy New Year! 2013!

Anyway, tennis has awoken from its deep slumber and things are heating up Down Under in Australia. Many of the top players are competing in the warmup tournaments in preparation for the year's first slam, the Aussie Open. Still, one of the tours favorite top players, Nadal, will be out for a while due to a stomach bug and (probably) bad knees. It's unfortunate, but perhaps the extra time will give him what he needs for a full recovery. He's had such a rough year.
Anyway, Djokovic has been upset by Tomic at the Hopman Cup. This young Australian player is going to be Australia's next hope. He's one to watch in the Australian Open, which starts January 14th.
For those of you who haven't heard of the Hopman Cup, it is a great tournament where countries send their top female and male to compete against the other countries. The US lost in the semis to Spain in the semis, sending Fernando Verdasco and Anabel Medina Garrigues into the finals. Heading into the Australian Open, Venus played in good style beating Garrigues 6-3 6-4. Yay! Go US!